The present invention relates generally to apparatus adapted for underwater use, and more specifically to apparatus which is especially useful in providing a life-supporting environment for air-breathing creatures such as amphibians and crustaceans in an aquatic environment.
For entertainment and educational purposes, it is desirable to provide a closed environment adapted for fish and air-breathing creatures, such as crabs, turtles, frogs, and other amphibians, crustaceans and reptiles, so that the aquatic creatures and the air-breathing creatures may interact as they do in nature.
Conventional aquariums are generally limited to providing a single, life-supporting environment for either fish or air-breathing creatures, and prior attempts to provide an interactive environment in an aquarium have been generally undesirable and met with limited success.
For example, one prior arrangement includes a vertical dividing wall secured in the center of an aquarium. One side of the aquarium is filled with water, while the other side is filled with rock and other land-creating material to provide a dry-land crawling surface for the air-breathing creatures and to allow movement of such creatures into and out of the water. In such set-ups, the dividing wall typically extends to approximately one-half the height of the aquarium to prevent the air-breathing creatures from escaping. As a result, only one-forth of the aquarium is filled with water, one-forth is filled with rock, and the upper half of the aquarium remains substantially unused. In other words, such prior arrangements result in extremely inefficient use of the space available within the aquarium.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for creating an air-filled environment within the water-filled aquarium to permit full utilization of the space in the aquarium. It is also desirable to provide such apparatus as an accessory that may be quickly and easily installed into a conventional aquarium.
The general aim of the present invention is to provide a new apparatus adapted to create an underwater, life-supporting environment for air-breathing species in an aquarium or other aquatic environment.
Another objective of the invention is to create such environment within a portable apparatus that may be easily installed into and removed from a conventional aquarium.
A more detailed objective is to achieve the foregoing by providing (1) an enclosure having a sealed upper portion and a downwardly facing lower open portion to allow the air-breathing creatures to freely enter into and exit from the enclosure, (2) a continuous supply of air into the enclosure when the enclosure is submerged, and (3) a control surface formed in the lower portion of the enclosure and past which air escapes to provide for air exchange in the enclosure and to maintain the water level inside of the enclosure at the height of the control surface, resulting in an xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d air-filled chamber in the enclosure that is submerged in the aquarium.
Another detailed objective of the invention is to provide a xe2x80x9cdry-landxe2x80x9d crawling surface such as rocks or driftwood positioned under and extending into the air-filled chamber to establish a dry-land crawling surface to enable the creatures passage into and our of the submerged enclosure.
Still another detailed objective is to form the enclosure from transparent material to enable viewing of the species within, and as they enter and exit the air-filled enclosure.
The invention also resides in the provision of a unique portable weighted base to which the enclosure may be releasably connected, and which is capable of maintaining the entire apparatus on the bottom of the aquarium, thus providing for ease of installation and removal of either the enclosure or the entire apparatus from an aquarium.
Yet another objective of the invention is to provide means for quickly and easily adjusting the height of the water in the enclosure.
These and other objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.